Out of the Fire...

Charlton 2 Portsmouth 1



The BBC said that Portsmouth were 'coasting to victory' after 76 minutes, and sounded rather peeved that Charlton started to turn the game round at this point (Bryan Hughes's goal, above). But then the Beeb are always peeved when Charlton do well. And how a 1-0 lead away from home can be described as 'coasting to victory' is a mystery to me.

The other thing the BBC pointed out is that Charlton had five injuries by half time; but the way they reported this was strange indeed; the phrase was something on the lines of "Charlton could hardly keep their players on the field", implying, I would think, that the injuries were somehow Charlton's fault, and not, as seemed more likely, Portsmouth's.

OK, when I read the other reports, including those of my fellow bloggers - Charlton fans who actually went to The Valley - it did rather seem that no one expected the 76th minute turn-round; but that's football; the game lasts 90 (well, on average 94) minutes and everything that occurs within that time, counts.

Harry Redknapp went back to the south coast complaining that he had been robbed; that Portsmouth had been brilliant, but that is just nonsense. Of course he wanted to win; of course his team were in the lead for a long time, but as Frankie Valley pointed out (and he was there) if that display was Harry's idea of 'brilliant' then no wonder they're in danger of going down.

So, just as on that fateful day when the absurd Lawro advised everyone to go shopping with their mothers-in-law rather than watch Portsmouth v Charlton, a 0-1 deficit was turned into a 2-1 win, and Charlton achieved another double, and also reached a points total of 47, one more than last season, and with three games left.

Mind you; these three games are against Lancashire's finest; i.e. Bolton, this afternoon, who never give anything away to Charlton; then Blackburn at home, which should be winnable, and then Manchester United away, where the most Charlton can hope for is another of those enjoyable 0-0 draws we've been having so many of. Though it doesn't now look as though United will be having one final fling at wresting the league title away from Chelsea, not any more.

And now we are without Herman Hreidarsson for the rest of the season as he has been handed a three-match ban (he pleaded guilty to elbowing Luis Boa Morte); and Luke Young won't be fit, at least for this afternoon. And there are other injuries as well - Spector with his dislocated shoulder for example, but if you believe what you get from the BBC, Charlton have no one but themselves to blame.